The Story of Us
by bludgers
Summary: In which Judy, Nick, and their many friends discover that everyone in Zootopia has a story, and you don't need to look far to find them.
1. 00: prior

_prior_

"-Judy, come on! We gotta find my stuffed carrot!" The eldest of Judith Hopps sisters cried as she ran about the forest looking for it.

"We'll find it May, I promise." Judy wandered subconsciously into the woods. It wasn't a scary place, in Judy's opinion, but anywhere that wasn't crammed with mammals was peculiar in Bunnyburrow.

Pulling back a branch, Judy stepped into the clearing to find the stuffed carrot in a small puddle of water. Bending down carefully, she began to pick it up, but a snap sounded. The snap of a branch being stepped on.

Judy's head whipped around to see what the source of the sound was, but couldn't find anything. She started for the carrot again, scared now. Another branch snapped and Judy turned completely around to see a red fox standing in front of her.

He didn't look dangerous, around her age maybe, and he was carrying two huge bags on his back. His green eyes sparkled with mischief and Judy stepped back. Foxes were not spoken highly of in Bunnyburrow. No predator ever was.

"Don't hurt me," she pleaded. The fox's smile faltered a bit, but it was still there.

"Why would I do that?" The only reason that came to Judy's head was the long told tale of predators eating prey. And he was a predator. She was the prey. Forgetting all about May's stuffed carrot, Judy turned around and ran. May would forgive her when she explained that she'd run into a fox.

As she ran, the fox walked over and picked up the long forgotten carrot. He smiled sadly down at it, putting it in one of his bags and walking off. When Judy Hopps returned the next afternoon to see if she could find the carrot, it was gone.


	2. 01: receive

_present_

"-Hopps! Wilde! My office, now please!" Bogo's voice ran through my messenger. I sighed and looked over at Judy who was already halfway out the door.

"Hey Carrots, wait up!" I sprang out of my seat and caught up to Judy whose short legs caused her to fall back my much larger strides.

"I can't wait! Today is the day that we finally get our big mission, and I'm so excited!" she cheered as we turned the corner and started up the stairs that led to the second floor that housed Bogo's office.

"It'll probably be another drug bust or something like that. Nothing huge," I said, rolling my eyes. Judy gawked at me in disbelief for a second.

"It's only the hugest mission ever, Nick. C'mon, we're at Bogo's office." I opened the door and allowed Judy to step in first before going after her. Some might say I was a gentleman, but really it was because I was afraid of Bogo and whatever wrath he had planned for us.

We may have been his best officers, but that didn't mean that we were his favorite.

"Hey, Chief. How's it going? Long time no see.." I trailed off as he fixed me with a glare.

"Let's not start Wilde. It's a Monday and I'm trying to give everyone their assignments, so just sit. Down." He rubbed his hoof over his the hard horns that adorned his head before taking out four stacks of files.

"Are all those files for us?" Judy asked, suspiciously eyeing the stacks of paper flowing out of each of the files. Bogo laughed and shook his head.

"Nope. This project is much too big for even the both of _you_ , so you'll be getting some assistance with it. I looked at Judy and saw hurt flash over her face for a second, before the hurt just turned to determined rage.

"Are you saying that you think Nick and I aren't capable, because need I remind you-"

"Judy, calm down. I never said that you weren't capable but this is much bigger than missing mammals and the case isn't even in Zootopia, and you'll be leaving the city for a bit." Judy stared – or glared at him for a good few seconds before leaning back in her seat. Being so small, it made her look almost comical.

"So, uh, who are we going to be working with?" I asked timidly, not wanting him to lash out at me.

"Well," he shuffled through some papers, "Officers Lupinton and Doerrison." Judy perked up at the mention of their names, and I felt some of my fur stand up. Not that I knew why.

Officer Dylan Lupinton was a grey wolf whom I'd worked with on occasion when Judy was out sick or physically unable to come to work. He was a decent enough guy, though a part of me wanted to hate him, and maybe it had to do with the fact that sometimes he brought Judy coffee and they had their own jokes together.

I'd never worked with Ellie Doerrison as she was a new recruit, but she must have been pretty damn good if she was one of the mammals that Bogo had chosen for this job.

"Please find Doerrison and Lupinton and give them their files. You'll be shipped out to Woodstown tomorrow, and I don't expect to see you back here until you have either a lead or have solved the case completely. Now you can leave." Judy and I nodded, saluted, and left the office.

"I'll give Lupinton his file and you give Doerrison hers," I offered.

"Well, they're partners so we'll probably find them in the same place." Judy smiled at me and my heart skipped a beat. There was just something about her smile that made me giddy. I scolded myself internally. Judy was my partner. Professionally. And my friend. But that was it. Nothing more, nothing less.

We descended the stairs and headed down to where all the officer offices were. I knew Lupinton's office was 2B so we stopped at that door and knocked.

"Judy! Nick!" he greeted when he opened the door. I peered farther in and saw Doerrison sitting in front of a laptop logging something into it. I hadn't really gotten a good look at her the last time we'd met, but I couldn't deny that she was very pretty.

She was a deer, doe to be exact. Her fur was a light brown color and the hair on top of her head was a nice blonde color and fell in nice wave-like patterns. She had a white spot on her face, and her eyes were a lovely blue color. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Lupinton cleared his throat, turning my attention back to him.

"Oh, hey...Dylan," I answered. His name sounded foreign coming off my tongue. We were going to have to be friendly to some extent if we were to work together. He smiled at me and opened the door a little wider so that Judy and I could step through.

"I assume you guys have already met, but this is Ellie. Ellie, Nick and Judy." Ellie turned and smiled at the both of us this time, her blue eyes catching the light.

"Hey Ellie," Judy said. I said hi as well and turned to Dylan who'd just finished staring at Ellie himself. I smirked. He was obviously crushing on her. He turned and leaned against his chair, then turned back to us.

"So what do the best officers in the precinct have for us today?" Judy laughed a little and passed him and Ellie their folders.

"Right now, we don't even know, but we're going to find out with you two." She smiled at them and opened her file. I opened mine and was surprised as a bunch of papers stared up at me. I walked over to Dylan's desk, placed the file down and thumbed through the papers. Finally, I came upon the page that I was looking for. In a bold print, read the words:

 **MISSING PREY ALL DISAPPEARANCES IN WOODSTOWN**

The rest of the papers had information on suspects, mysterious places, and more facts about the case, but I could only look up at the other three to see they were staring at each other with the same looks on their faces. The same look I was sure was on my face.

Fear.


End file.
